PART 9
Back at the Bishop's home, Nat and Dan sat on the porch, speaking with Bishop and a few of his sons while Jo and Nick stood off to the side…waiting for an answer themselves. "Maybe someone was going to come out here and set a fire tonight, but they couldn't at the last minute," Nat suggested.
"But why would they warn us?" Dan protested.
"Maybe because they wanted to put on some kind of sick show…I don't know," Nat replied. There was a seemingly hopeless silence, and Nat glanced over towards Nick and Jo…who seemed to be in the middle of a very interesting conversation…
"Nick," Jo was saying, "about what happened before…you don't have to finish. I know what you were going to say?"
"You do?" Nick asked…and a weird sense of déjà vu settled over him.
"All you feel for me is friendship. And while I'm not going to pretend that that's all I feel for you, I want you to know that, with time, I think I'll be able to find some way to live with it," Jo sigh. She searched Nick's face for a reaction, but found none. He looked neither relieved nor upset. Jo was about to say something more when suddenly there was an outburst from Dan.
"Oh my God," he said in a low, fearful voice.
"What?" Nat asked, "What are you thinking?"
"Well, what if there wasn't even supposed to be a fire here tonight at all," Dan said, "What if this was all a diversion."
"Diversion from what?" Nick asked.
"The house. To get me - to get all of us away from the house," Dan replied.
"The girls are there!" Franz said in panic.
"Dan - Nan and Bess are there," Nat said in shock. All it took was one look at each other before they were on their horses and galloping towards home.
"We'll bring help!" Simon Bishop called after them…and then silently under his breath said, "Please let them get there in time…"
"Now don't cry sweetie," Bess crooned, "I don't know where your Aunt Nan is…she left a while ago didn't she?" Bess paced back and forth with the crying baby in her arms. "How long does it exactly take to close a barn door," she muttered in annoyance under her breath. After a few more minutes she sigh and decided to look outside the window to see what was keeping Nan. She gasped! The barn was partially on fire!
"Oh dear…what do I do?" she spoke out loud to the babies, "Girls, Auntie Bess needs to go help Auntie Nan. You two are going to have to stay here, nice and safe in your crib. I'll be back as soon as I can." She reluctantly put the children down and grabbed her own coat, running outside without looking back. "Nan!" she called as she got nearer to the barn, "Nan! Where are you!?" She entered the barn from the portion that wasn't on fire yet, and began to cough due to the smoke. Her eyes watering, she made her way through the thick fog….and that's when she saw it. An orange lump on the floor, covered in a dark coat.
"Nan!" she gasped, but before she could rush over to her, she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her waist, and a sharp blow to the back of her head. Then, just as Nan's world had done earlier, everything went black.
PART 10
